A Damn Good Reason To Be Naked In A Bath With Lina
by OriginalProxy
Summary: For Relm's Bubbles, Bubbles contest fic, Lina and Zelgadis, naked in a bubble bath without any lemon content!


DISCLAIMER: I do not own Slayers, Lina Inverse, Zelgadis Greywords, or anything else in this story that you recognize, although I'm pretty sure I made up the cities from my cuff. Relm the Wanderer is responsible for the part between the asterisks, the contest was to continue the story. You can find it at   
  
Bubbles, Bubbles contest submission Or A Damn Good Reason to Be Naked In a Hot Tub With Lina  
  
"Zel! I found something," exclaimed the self proclaimed sorcery genius Lina Inverse.  
  
The Chimera peeked through the stacks to look at where she sat, comfortably on the floor, waving an ancient tome. "What is it, Lina?"  
  
"It's an old all purpose spell to return a transfigured person to their original form!" She jumped up and ran around the shelf between them, thrusting the book into his now pale face. His eyes widened as he studied the spell.  
  
"This could work," he whispered excitedly. "I've never tried something like this!"  
  
"This is great!" Lina shouted. Luckily, they were alone in that section of the dusty library, so no one really cared. "Let's go find the nearest temple priest and see if it works!"  
  
Zelgadis swallowed, reading the last bit of the spell. Apparently, Lina hadn't read that part. "Lina, a temple priest can't cast this for me."  
  
"Why not?" she asked, looking angry. "I mean, I know Cashmira isn't known for it's priests, but there's got to be one around here somewhere."  
  
"It has to be a black magic specialist," he replied quietly. "You didn't bother reading the title of the book, did you?"  
  
"Ehe," Lina rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. Trying to change the subject, she exclaimed, "Masaka! Where are we going to get a male black mage to do this?"  
  
Zel blushed profusely. "Actually, it has to be a female."  
  
Lina snatched the book from him, scanning it furiously. "Oh no! No no no no no FUCKING WAY! Zel, I am not doing this for you! I am not!"  
  
Although they were the only ones in the basement, a Librarian came down and shushed them, saying they were disturbing the readers upstairs.  
  
"Lina, lets go back to the inn and talk about this," Zel offered.  
  
Lina handed him the book, but whispered sharply, "there is nothing you can say that will make me do this one, Zelgadis."  
  
The tome was from an old abandoned shamanist tradition, Nacciwism. Nacciw practitioners were exclusively female and they tended to dabble in black magic more than other shamanists, it was said that men could not use any of the spells of this strange sect, as effective as the mages and the methods may have been. The spell itself was a very in depth ritual calling on the spirits of wind, water, chaos and order. It would take almost three hours of careful preparation, then a simpler, but just as time consuming, period of meditation for both the caster and the one who wanted change their form. Lina's objection to helping Zel with this spell was simple: both of the participants in the ritual had to be "sky clad" (naked).  
  
Zelgadis bought Lina an incredibly large lunch (even by her standards) at the best restaurant in the village. He promised to do the same thing every meal of every day for a month straight if the spell worked. He begged her, reminding her of how much it would mean to him, promising to do anything she asked for the same time period. After a while of consistently saying no, and secretly laughing that they had exchanged the rolls of stoic and expressive, Lina realized that she was the only person that Zel could ask about this. Lina did know how important this was to him. Zel would not leave her alone until she did this for him. She agreed, stipulating that he was, under no circumstances, to tell their traveling companions about it, even if the cure worked.  
  
"Why not," he couldn't resist asking innocently.  
  
Lina's face grew darker than her hair as a volcano no one had seen in the middle of the inn exploded, "Because no one is ever going to know that you saw me naked, you hentai." Lina realized that the entire restaurant was staring at her. She quietly got up and left.  
  
Zelgadis didn't see Lina until later that evening when he returned to the inn the party was staying at. He'd spent the day acquiring ingredients for the ritual. With any luck, they'd be able to start tomorrow. Lina and Gourry were stealing food from each other while Amelia pigged out in her slightly-well-mannered way.  
  
"Zelgadis-san," Amelia jumped up to greet him. "Did you and Lina-san find anything of use at the library today?"  
  
"No!" Lina practically shouted, letting Gourry have the sausage they were fighting over. "And we don't think we will. So tomorrow, we are going to go to Andragoria, it's only twelve or thirteen miles away from here and there's an inn there that's renowned for its baths. When I was traveling with. well, let's just say I've been there and I loved it! If we leave early, we should be there before lunchtime."  
  
"Okay, Lina-san," Amelia smiled at the plethora of information, and Lina took as many of Gourry's sausages as she could to make up for the one she let him have. "But Zelgadis-san, are you sure you've looked at all the library has to offer? I mean, you and Lina-san only spent one day here, and usually you like to take several to go through the whole thing."  
  
The chimera smiled at the young princess, shocking her beyond belief, "I think I've gotten all I'm going to get out of the library. If Lina wants to leave town, then we'll leave. Besides, I hear Andragoria has many private baths. I always prefer private baths."  
  
Amelia was barely listening to Zel; she was just staring at his smile, nodding dumbly. "Un, wakata."  
  
True to Lina's postulate, they reached Cashmira's sister village Andragoria well before lunchtime. Along the way, Zelgadis had discreetly handed the spell components to Lina so she was able to separate from the group only moments after they reached the inn. She found Zel again when he was alone in the room he would share with Gourry. She gave him the number of the private bath she'd reserved, told him to be there in three hours, and warned him that any comments, hentai or degrading, he made about her body would result not only in his immanent demise via the dragon slave, but also in her destroying the spell-book and botching his cure. Zel tried not to laugh at this, and succeeded, until she left the room.  
  
Three hours to the second later, Zelgadis Graywords rapped lightly on private bath #8 and identified himself. Lina hid behind the door as she admitted him. She told him to go behind the silkscreen to take his clothes off, which he did, without looking at her. Lina struggled not to think about Zel undressing while she dipped her hands into the frothy tub.  
  
Zel came out from behind the screen to see a very naked Lina Inverse bending over the tub. He blushed seven shades of scarlet and whipped his head away, covering his nose as he did so.  
  
"Okay, Zel," Lina said, standing up and not looking in the direction of the silk screen. "You need to come over here." Zel obliged, trying to look everywhere but the direction he was walking. Lina turned toward him at last, keeping her head carefully tilted upward so she could not see below his shoulders.  
  
She placed her hands on his head, murmuring the words to the first part of the spell. "Okashina kaze. Honto no kaze. Kaze no kami wa maenichi okuremono wo agete: sei no kokyu. Kaze no kami, tasukete kurete onegai. Strange winds. True winds. Spirit of wind that every day gives a gift: the breath of life. Spirit of wind, help us."  
  
Lina dropped her hands back to her sides and instructed Zel to get into the bath. He did, but she had some difficulty not watching him as he slid lithely into the water. He turned to look at her, waiting for further instruction, and discovered that he needed to readjust his vision for the depth of the tub. He snapped his head up, his cheeks a suspicious rose. Luckily, Lina was turned away, her face a deep crimson. He cleared his throat, calling her attention back to the task at hand. Lina dipped her hands into the water and lifted some clear of the foam, pouring it over Zel's head as she recited further.  
  
"Henko wa sui. Kireina mizu. Sui no Kami wa maenichi okuremono wo agete: sei no chi. Sui no kami, tasukete kurete onegai. Change is water. Clear water. Spirit of water that every day gives a gift: the blood of life. Spirit of water, aid us."  
  
Zel backed away from the edge of the bath as Lina moved to get in with him. He knew she would not appreciate bumping into him while they were both naked. Lina was just glad that a side affect of the spell was so many bubbles, now she could look at Zel without worrying about what she would see. She continued to cast the spell, first calling upon Shabrinigdo, then on Cepheid.  
  
"What now," Zel asked, after it became obvious that Lina was done casting, and had little intention of doing anything but sitting and soaking in the sweetly scented bath water.  
  
"Now we wait. You need to meditate on your previous form. If you don't want a full transition, you need to especially meditate on what aspects of the chimera you want to keep, otherwise you'll revert completely. If you want to revert completely, you might as well take a nap. I just need to be here, alert, to monitor the spell and feed it energy. We're going to be here for a good three hours so as other portions come up I can inform you of them." There was a light tap on the door. Lina jumped up in shock. * Lina heard Amelia outside the door. "Hello is there anyone in here? I found an earring outside and I wondered if someone had lost it."  
  
"Ohandyouneedtobeperiodicallysubmerged, holdyourbreath, okay?" Lina shoved the chimera's head underwater. "Amelia?!" Lina squeaked. "What the hell are you doing here?!?!" Lina yelled all red faced from anger. "I'm sorry Miss Lina! But your earring was just lying outside where anyone could take it and it would be an injustice for me to not get it back to its rightful owner!" Amelia declared. "Fine then put the damn earring down and get the hell out of here!" Lina barked at Amelia with a red raging battle aura surrounding her. Seeing the angry fiery look in Lina's eyes caused the little princess to scamper out of the private room quickly. Lina let out a big sigh. "Damn forgot to lock the door." She kicked the area in front of her in the bath a few times till her bath mate emerged from the water sputtering and breathing heavily. "She's gone. Man that was close. Are you alright Zel?" Zelgadis gave a deft nod before smiling mischievously and stalking closer to the fiery sorceress. "Now where were we?" * "Huh? Stay on your own side of the tub, stone boy. I was just telling you to meditate." "Okay," Zel replied, sheepishly. He closed his eyes and sank into the warm water concentrating on regaining his form. Meditating was not easy for the chimera, as he was in a tub -naked- with his dream girl -equally naked- and understandably, other thoughts would intrude. After an hour passed this way, Lina added more hot water and a few rose petals to the bath. She had Zel dunk himself underwater, she said a few words, then she returned to soaking. After the second hour she did the same with red tulip petals. After the last hour passed, Lina added hot water and benihana petals. As soon as she finished saying the incantation, a white, black, blue and golden light filled the room. She averted her eyes, expecting it, and when it passed, she looked at Zelgadis. She looked at a very bishi, very naked, very human Zelgadis who was sharing a very clear bath with her. Zelgadis wasn't looking at her at all. He was looking at his hand with an idiotic grin plastered to his face. He looked up at Lina and grabbed her, pulling her into a warm hug. "I'm human," he said aloud, in a soft, wondering tone. Lina relaxed in his arms for a moment, glad that he had finally found what he was looking for. Then she remembered she was naked. "WAAAAIIIII!!! Let go of me you hentai!!!" She pulled out of his arms, hitting him soundly on the head several times with the bath-side table. He fell backwards, swirly- eyed. Taking advantage of his incapacitation, Lina went behind the silk screen and put on the after-bath kimono she'd worn to the bathroom. When Zel came to, she handed him a towel so he could exit the tub. As he changed behind the silkscreen, Lina felt the need to apologize. "I know you weren't being echi, Zel. I'm glad you found your cure." Zelgadis slipped from around the screen, fully clothed, with his usual cat- like grace. "So if I tried to hug you and thank you now, you wouldn't hit me with a large blunt object," he asked, smiling. "No," the sorceress stated softly. "But I can think of another way you could thank me," she practically purred. Zelgadis was thrown. Was Lina flirting with him? Did she like his human form? "How is that," he asked, struggling to keep his voice even. "Start buying me those dinners! I missed lunch casting your stupid spell! I'm HUNGRY!" Lina grabbed his hand and pulled him across the room to the door. The spell may have transfigured Zel, but Lina was still exactly the same. Lina touched the doorknob, then drew her hand back, and turned to Zel. She fell into his arms, hugging him. "You realize that if you ever tell anyone you saw me naked, I'll kill you, right?" she whispered. "Right," he replied, holding her tightly. Not even the embrace of the man she loved could keep Lina Inverse from a good meal, especially not when that same man was buying the meal. Less than a minute later the former chimera and the starving sorceress were terrifying the waitress with an obscenely large order. 


End file.
